Kuwaiti state oil company plans to invest in Brazil
Executives from the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company met this week in Brazil with industry giants such as Petrobras, Chevron, and Shell.
17/05/2023
Thais Sousa
tsousa@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Directors of the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company ( KUFPEC) held a series of meetings in Brazil this week with institutions and companies linked to the oil sector.
The Kuwaiti state-owned company came seeking to diversify its investment portfolio abroad. Meetings with executives from Petrobras, PRIO (formerly PetroRio), Chevron, and Shell were on the schedule.
In an exclusive interview with ANBA, Abdullah Al-Affasi, KUFPEC’s Planning & Marketing director, spoke about the possibility of this investment being consolidated through partnerships or even a KUFPEC operation on Brazilian soil.
“We are considering both possibilities. First of all, we will start an investment operation, precisely because our Brazilian companies counterparts, from what we have seen, are of excellent quality and have a lot of capability and experience at work. Hence, I believe we can have a partnership, initially, only as investors, and possibly have other operations with our partners in other oil projects in the future,” said Al-Affasi.
The delegation had a meeting-packed three-day schedule in the country, which resulted in at least three to four projects the Arabs assessed as promising. “The impression of the delegation was optimistic. We saw a lot of professionalism and had excellent meetings,” said Al-Affasi. The information collected will become a report to our company’s board and the necessary steps to progress with some of these projects. “And who knows, maybe to open a branch of our company here in Brazil,” continued the executive.
KUFPEC’s Planning & Marketing director also spoke of closely monitoring the public tenders floated by Brazil’s National Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels Agency (ANP). Through the ANP’s bidding rounds, the Brazilian government auctions the right to explore and produce oil and natural gas in Brazil.
The Brazilian regions where Kuwaitis see the most potential are the Campos Basin in Rio de Janeiro and the pre-salt area in the Santos Basin. The latter concentrates over 70% of Petrobras’ oil and gas production.
The schedule was organized with the support of the Embassy of Kuwait in Brazil and institutions such as the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil).
“I’m very excited. The start [of KUFPEC’s investment] in Latin America had to be with Brazil. It really cheered me up. The meetings were very positive, and I have no doubt the subsequent steps will include follow-ups. Establishing an office here could come naturally. This is one of the most respected national Kuwaiti agencies and invests the most abroad, so it is a significant visit for Kuwait and Brazil,” added the Kuwaiti ambassador to Brasília, Nasser Almotairi.
Also with the Kuwaiti delegation were Khaled Al-Mulla, Exploration director of KUFPEC, and Shaimaa Amin, Business Development and Technological Support director.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
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